Comments on: The Great Gomme Adventure

By: bernd

bernd — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 04:00:07 +0000

got mine at the local homebrew shop

By: mick

mick — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:09:26 +0000

Ok, I’m on the gomme wagon, or at least the wanting-to-make-gomme-syrup wagon..

on somebody’s post somewhere, I read that it was often available at “indian grocery stores.” I tried one here and what I got was a little baggy of rocks of gum arabica. I’m pretty sure it’s not crack, but not entirely. Anyway, point being, these are “rocks.” the wonderful Wondrich recipe specs powder.. anybody have any experience with rocks of gum arabica?

By: Cucumber and Thyme Martini : EveryJoe - Sports News – Tech Reviews – Entertainment – Life Tips for EveryJoe

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 12:04:56 +0000

[...] The Cocktail Chronicles has a play-by-play recipe for gomme and you should check it out if you want to make this cocktail RIGHT. [...]

By: Bernd P

Bernd P — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 15:00:54 +0000

correction:

i produced 0.5 liters of course!
sorry, it was a bit late that evening, i calculated the amount from the dimensions of the pot (14cm diameter -> 0.7*0.7*pi) and i forgot to multiply with the 3cm height of the liquid inside!

so please correct the above resulting amount to
0.5 liters (11.2 ounces)

mea culpa!

By: Bernd P

Bernd P — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 02:00:09 +0000

Yesterday i received my ebay order, a kilo of gum arab.
Yes, it is pretty much, but the total costs were just slightly more than the costs of the 50…100g packages, so why shouldnt i go for a higher goal. And i’m pretty sure i will use the stuff for other purposes in cooking as well.

I just tried to reproduce the above recipe, and it seems that (to answer Perrys question) the measurements are in parts.

For the measurements I used an espresso cup that was just in reach, which takes around 80-85ml (2.7-2.9 ounces).
So i took 1 cup of gum-poweder and a cup of water, stirred it carefully to avoid lumps, heated the mixture until it boiled.
At the same time i took 4 cups of sugar and 2 cups of water and heated that mixture in a secod pot.

After the sugar was completely diluted, i poured the gum into the pot with sugarwater, and back into the gum pot again to avoid too much of the gum mix being wasted in the process.

The thick liquid is quite foamy, but it settles quite fast, and using a tabespoon, you can shove the foam to a kind of gluey lump that reminds me precisely of Marshmellow cream (looks like it and tastes like it as well).
Underneath this foamy stuff, you will then find about 1.5 liters (33.8 ounces) of gomme syrup.

It tastes quite great, sugary of course, but not as strong as regular sugar syrup (simple syrup) and with an interesting slight side-note of hmmm corn? Can’t distinguish it precisely though. And the texture is indeed significantly thicker than simple syrup. Plus it is quite a bit gluey when you taste it undiluted.

I am very curious how the precious drinks will taste, when i give it a try tomorrow!

Thanx for the recipe!
Maybe i’ll experiment with different mixtures.

By: ND

ND — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 11:44:33 +0000

You can find gum arabic on eBay, in packages of various sizes (if you can put up with the strange association that this stuff seems to have with people who like to wear black… meh).

By: Perry

Perry — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 19:08:37 +0000

On your measurments: gum, water and sugar, are these weights or volumes? I regularly use my kitchen scale and prefer weight to volume whenever possible.

By: The evolution of the Sazerac cocktail » Oh Gosh! - Adventures of a cocktail enthusiast

Sun, 30 Dec 2007 00:16:19 +0000

[...] Thomas H. Handy Rye in my all-rye Sazerac. I also used my just-made real gomme syrup, which both Paul and David Wondrich recommend for the perfect [...]

By: Michael C

Michael C — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 03:49:34 +0000

I can’t find Gum Arabic in Honolulu either … but I found Guar Gum at the helath food store. It’s a polysaccharide and a cold-water thickener – we’ll see if it has the same effect!

By: Paul

Paul — Sun, 30 Apr 2006 05:49:06 +0000

Thanks for the note. I expected to find gum arabic pretty easily here in Seattle, where you can’t throw a rock without hitting a natural food store, but the search led to little but frustration. Fortunately, while buying stuff to make holiday cookies, I found this little, out-of-the-way baking store, and asked on a whim if they had gum arabic.

“How much would you like?”

Satisfaction at last.